Margaret Starr - Director of Vocal Music at Marin School of the Arts (MSA) at Novato High School12/6/2022 The best thing about returning to in-person instruction has been being able to HARMONIZE again!!! One of the challenges of this year has been rebuilding classroom norms and community expectations for how we work together as a team in choir. We have continued to use Sight Reading Factory in class as a group activity and my students love it! We often divide into sections and compete against each other 😊 
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The greatest gift that returning to live instruction has been is seeing students laughing and singing in the choir room during breaks, lunches, or after school. I love being able to spend my breaks & lunches with students talking about life or playing games.Our choir room is bustling with tags, random instruments, and community. The most challenging obstacle I faced this year was our Spring calendar. I had over planned our 2nd semester and we had our school's Spring musical - at one point in the semester, we were learning music for 4 different events! I definitely learned from this experience, but I also learned that students love the challenge and will learn anything we can teach them... So, teach effectively! Something wonderful that our students have really been enjoying is conducting their own pieces. I did not get the opportunity to do this many times througout the year, but when we did, it was always very impactful. After a short lesson on the conducting pattern and time signature, we have the students stand in a circle and all conduct a verse or phrase of the music. Already primed with the question, we then have students volunteer to conduct and voila! The students get a chance to practice notes and rhythms, never singing the same phrase twice, and watching a new conductor. Students usually leave this exercise with a new found appreciation for conducting, the music, and themselves.  My favorite thing about returning to in-person instruction is realizing that there is something intangibly wonderful about singing together in the same space. The musical electricity in the air when a choir sings a locked-in chord or the power of a group collectively being moved by a meaningful text is something that I’ll appreciate every time I step in front of a group of singers. My high school women’s choir is singing “Bright Morning Stars are Rising”, arr. by Jay Althouse. The music is an American folk tune that is very singable and was easily learned by the choir. Since they didn’t have to concentrate so much on learning their parts, they’ve been able to sing this with expression and musicality early on. This is my reminder as a conductor to be sure to program some music that is easily learned—sometimes simple pieces are the most effective—and some days students just need to make effortless, beautiful music together.  At our last concert, I wanted to feature more Eastern music, so I challenged myself by programing an Arabic piece and a Polynesian piece among others. The Arabic Piece, El Helwa-Di, was daunting because it has multiple stanzas in Arabic. I contacted a former student who is Egyptian and fluent in that particular dialect of Arabic to help us with the text by making audio recordings of the pronunciation.  21V is a new professional ensemble of sopraon and alto voices of all genders and gender identities, founded in the Bay Area during the Covid-19 pandemic. With its focus on 21st Century music of the Americas, 21V aims to serve as a beacon for a new generation of treble music lovers, and embraces an expansive view of inclusivity that inspires awareness and advocacy for underrepresented America Continent compositional voices and perspectives.  It’s been exciting watching the students gain confidence in themselves since the return. They are so joyful to be here and singing with each other. They are re-learning how to socialize and it’s inspiring to see new friendships emerging. Watching them connect with each other and the music these past few months is what matters. There are so many challenges to overcome this year. The goal in all of my classes is to have fun, reconnect, and allow students to feel comfortable singing without the anxiety of making mistakes. We wanted to have the students perform in as many events as possible (concerts, festivals, community events, etc) to expose them to a community that was shut down for so long.  Hi! My name is Andrew Hathaway, and I teach choir at Castillero Middle School and Simonds Elementary School in San Jose. We’ve been teaching in person this entire year, and my favorite thing so far is all the spontaneous music, laughter, and conversations that happen from day to day. With virtual teaching, I felt like there was a lot of radio silence and not a lot of room for sudden fun things to happen in each class, and I have seen the absolutely opposite this year. I’m learning to embrace the unpredictability, and it’s given me some of my favorite teaching memories.  My favorite thing about returning to in person instruction is the realization of how much my students and I truly love music, and the companionship we feel on our adventure! Something inspiring I'm doing with my students is that my Chamber Choir is touring 8 of our K-(6) 8 schools and spreading the beauty of our art. I especially love conducting Indodana! A soothing and moving piece of music.  My favorite thing about returning to in-person instruction has been observing how students have handled school post online learning. I really am impressed with the resilience of this group of students. I am finding that this generation of students is willing to fight for what they believe is right. They challenge you and ask you questions that from my experience as a student, you were never allowed to ask or say to a teacher. But...  Q: What has been your favorite thing about returning to in-person instruction/rehearsal? A: My favorite thing has been seeing the students gradually come out of their shells and interact with each other as they used to. A challenge has been modifying rehearsals for outdoor rehearsals. We did this for about a month at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters.  |
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